December 2009
The bateaux-mouche was inching along the River Seine, bobbing up and down gently. The air was frigid and crisp. In the background, I could hear Edith Piaf's Greatest Hits album getting another play on the boat's sound system.
I wrapped my camera's strap around my wrist, set it on the rail, and tried to take some steady pictures.
The picture isn't the best, it is grainy. But when I see it, I immediately remember the lights reflecting off of the water and the slowed sounds of the city at rest. I remember wanting to put on my gloves when I could no longer feel the tips of my fingers but refusing to do so for fear of letting my camera slip into the water and losing all proof that I had set foot on Parisian soil/boat.
The lights from the apartments that line the river are proof that people actually live in these buildings. It is a reminder that someone is blessed enough to live on a street, and in a building, that to me could only exist in a dream.
Edith Piaf's, "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" 30 sec clip from myspace.com
This is absolutely beautiful, Fatima. I hadn't thought much about people actually living in apartments along the Seine - one apartment just seems like a small piece in a gigantic facade to the backdrop of the Paris we romanticise in our heads. Thanks for the insight :)
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